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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23965681">of dreams and growing up</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zivitz/pseuds/Zivitz'>Zivitz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>La Vie En Rose [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Suits (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Feels, Gen, Growing Up</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 06:21:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23965681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zivitz/pseuds/Zivitz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bad dreams lead to middle of the night philosophizing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Donna Paulsen/Harvey Specter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>La Vie En Rose [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706686</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>of dreams and growing up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Donna woke to the slight creak of the door opening, her pulse quickening until she saw the slight form slip in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey,” she said groggily. “What’s up? What time is it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Late. Um...” Her daughter stood halfway between the door and the bed, looking nervous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” Donna lifted herself to an elbow, more alert now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I just-“</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Did you wet the bed?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What? Mom, I’m twelve of course I didn’t-“</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Did you get your period?” she asked more seriously, heart thumping. She’d been mentally preparing for this moment for a while, but if it was here she surely wasn’t ready for it yet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh my god, why would you say that?” She didn’t need more than the moonlight to tell the girl was blushing furiously. “I just had a bad dream!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh,” she sighed, sagging backwards into the bed. “Do you want to tell me about it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Maybe,” the girl wiped at her eyes and Donna realized this must have been some dream.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why don’t you climb in?” she offered, lifting the covers slightly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Mom, I’m too old for that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Who says it’s for you? Maybe <em>I</em> need some comfort.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She shoved at Harvey with her free hand and when he rolled over with a snort she backed up, making space in bed for the baby who had somehow turned into a lanky pre-teen overnight. The girl crawled in and curled up against her mother, arms tucked in the way she’d been doing since infancy. Donna stroked the dark blonde curls away from her face and sighed. They hadn’t done this in a long time, and it would likely be one of the last.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They lay in silence for a few minutes until the younger voice said, “I dreamt you and Dad were dead, and I was all alone.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Donna stopped stroking for a moment. “That’s a bad dream, all right. But you know you’ll never be alone, right?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It doesn’t feel like it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, baby, you’ll never be completely alone. You have your sister, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Rachel will always be here. And Dad and I don’t plan on going anywhere for a long, long time.” She wiped the tears from her daughter’s eyes and nudged at her until she sat up enough for Donna to wrap an arm around her shoulders and lay her back down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I know it’s stupid.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s not stupid. It’s part of growing up.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I mean, part of growing up is realizing that you’re your own person. And eventually things aren’t going to be the way they always have been. I think this dream was probably more about you getting older than us dying.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Mmm,” the girl said sleepily, as Donna kept smoothing back her hair in small strokes. Her lids fluttered exactly the way they did when she was new, and Donna’s heart clenched. Her baby wasn’t a baby any more. “Mom?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes, sweetheart.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t want things to change.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Me, neither. But we don’t have much of a choice. All we can do is take it as it comes.” She felt the slight nod against her shoulder and slowed her movements until the girl was asleep again. She blinked through some tears, and wasn’t surprised when the bed shifted on her other side and a hand wiped them from her cheeks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How long have you been awake?” she whispered.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Long enough,” he murmured back. “Existential crisis at 3am?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Something like that,” and she sniffled as he took her free hand and squeezed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’ll never be alone, either, you know. She’ll always be our girl.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But she won’t always be our baby.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said, bringing their join hands to his mouth and kissing her fingers while he leaned over to peer at their daughter. “She’s never stopped being our baby.”</p>
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